Gap logo: Out with the new, in with the old

When retailer The Gap introduced a new logo last week on its Web site, updating its blue box logo of more than 20 years, the Twitterati unleashed its inner Heidi Klum.

Online critics said the new logo looked "cheap" and "unsophisticated" and as if it was designed in Microsoft Word or someone was experimenting with Photoshop for the first time.

Well, Gap takes design criticism better than many a "Project Runway" contestant: After touting the updated version last week as "contemporary" and "current," the company is now saying "auf Wiedersehen" to the new logo.

"We've been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back," Marka Hansen, president of Gap Brand North America, said in a statement today. "So we've made the decision to do just that."

Late last week in a piece for The Huffington Post, Hansen responded to the criticism and said the company would welcome design ideas.

"We've posted a message on the Gap Facebook Page that says we plan to ask people to share their designs with us as well. We welcome the participation we've seen so far."

But crowdsourcing turned out not to be the answer.

"We've learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way," Hansen said in today's statement. "We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn't the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing."

"There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we'll handle it in a different way. "

The new logo inspired the "Crap Logo Yourself" Web site wherein users could see what their own Gaputized logo would look like without having to worry about agonizing over a design, or opening Microsoft Word, or getting dressed down by a supermodel.